The announcement* that McDonald’s is seeking paid product placements for the Big Mac in rappers’ lyrics has generally met with disapproval. Now BusinessWeek blogger David Kiley has revealed that Russell Simmons prefers such deals be kept secret:
“We talked about the McDonald’s offer to hip-hop artists to write songs that the fast food company would approve, featuring Big Mac in the lyrics. McDonald’s then pays the artist and his or her company some amount of money–$1-$2 perhaps–per radio play. Simmons told me the deal was “all good.” But, he added, that the deal may not get off the ground because the firm handling it leaked the story to Advertising Age. Simmons says the deal was okay when people didn’t know how it worked. Now that they do, it probably won’t work. Huh? This sounds like, “It’s not a crime unless you get caught” thinking.”
Perhaps Simmons missed the core principle of honesty* lecture in his yoga class.
I know ProHipHop’s Komply columnist Steve Hunt is outraged at Simmons’ perspective. Which was good for me to hear because I’ve been feeling rather jaded about the whole affair. In fact, in response to an earlier email about the topic from iLLa*, I came up with the idea of paying djs to sample McDonald’s ads or similar material.
I guess I’m surprised to see what people view as acceptable and unacceptable in such deals. I used to hate the whole concept of product placement but came to accept and sometimes even enjoy seeing products pop up with oh so careful placement in a video or film. Also called branded entertainment, such placements are currently a growing trend as marketers attempt to find new avenues into the mindspace of consumers.
It’s weird, I enjoyed “Pass the Courvoisier” while finding Petey Pablo’s Seagrams shout out jarring, even though it seemed the more honest of the two placements. Of course, this whole process leads to an increasingly suspicious populace who may no longer be able to trust any source, including word of mouth.
[*dead link removed]
